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Philippines: Commission Allocates ?2 M in Humanitarian Aid for Victims of Typhoons

Contact: The European Commission, press-rapid-database@ec.europa.eu

 

BRUSSELS, Jan 2 /Standard Newswire/ -- The European Commission has adopted a €2 million emergency decision for the victims of typhoons that have struck the Philippines over the last four months. The aid provided will focus on the provision of drinking water, hygiene promotion and sanitation activities, distribution of non-food items and shelter repair. The funding is channelled through the European Commission Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO), under the responsibility of Commissioner Louis Michel.

 

Between 27 September and 6 December 2006 four typhoons struck the Philippines. Although most Filippino communities are accustomed to facing typhoons, the scale and frequency of this year’s storms have left many people struggling to recover since local disaster response capacity has been exhausted. Given the scale of the disaster, ECHO decided to deploy its Regional Rapid Response Coordinator to the affected area to carry out assessments.

 

Winds, flooding and landslides devastated several provinces and some evacuation centres were destroyed; large numbers of affected people are finding temporary shelter in transitional centres like churches and schools. Continuous rainfall in the affected area is further aggravating the situation and it is feared that the area cannot withstand further rains or flooding. About 3 million people have been affected and more than 500,000 houses destroyed.

 

The European Commission allocated this emergency decision to provide relief assistance to the most affected populations in the Philippines. The EC humanitarian response will focus on the provision of emergency food, drinking water and water supply, hygiene promotion and sanitation activities, distribution of non-food items. Medical support will be supplied as well as assistance for small-scale repair of damaged houses.

 

Aid will be implemented by partners with a strong capacity and an established presence in the area such as NGOs and the International Federation of the Red Cross. The Philippines is also a beneficiary of the Commission's disaster preparedness programme (DIPECHO).

 

More details: http://ec.europa.eu/echo/field/dipecho/index_en.htm


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